Industrial disc brakes are used to decelerate a drive, such as a conveyor or crane drive, when the motive power is removed, and to hold the drive (and components connected to it) against reverse movement once the drive has stopped.
There are various known disc brake assemblies. An example of a convention disk brake arrangement can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,968,864 the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
However, industrial disc brakes of conventional design have several inherent problems or disadvantages. First, known disc brakes used on industrial machinery do not have a facility enabling the friction pad of the brake to be positively locked onto the disc. Hitherto, disc brakes have relied solely on the pinching action of pre-tensioned disc springs to urge the friction pad into contact with the disc when the disc brake actuator is de-energised.
Secondly, to compensate for wear of the friction pad, some known disc brakes incorporate a complicated wear compensation system designed to hold the friction pad in a constant position relative to the disc face as the friction material of the pad wears away. Such compensation systems typically utilise chains and sprockets and/or several lost motion linkages. In addition to being complex and expensive to construct, the known wear compensation systems require regular maintenance and servicing to maintain them in proper operating condition.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved disc brake assembly which overcomes or alleviates at least one of the disadvantages of the prior art.